A new synopsis has been released from the second episode of AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead,”, their “The Walking Dead” spinoff that takes to the streets of Los Angeles when the “virus” first spreads.

The pilot follows a highly dysfunctional blended family who are forced together when they realize a reported virus is actually the onset of the undead apocalypse.

The second episodes, however, focuses on Madison and her drug-addict son (pictured). “While Madison struggles to keep Nick from crippling Withdrawal, Travis ventures out to find his son before the city of Los Angeles falls.”

“Fear the Walking Dead” stars Kim Dickens (Gone Girl, “Sons of Anarchy”) as Madison, Cliff Curtis (“Missing,” “Gang Related”) as Travis, Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) as Nick and Alycia Debnam-Carey (Into the Storm) as Alicia. Also joining the cast as series regulars are Elizabeth Rodriguez (“Orange is the New Black”) as Liza and Mercedes Mason (Quarantine 2: Terminal) as Ofelia.

Puscifer, the project led by Tool-frontman Maynard James Keenan has announced a new studio album titled Money Shot, which will be released October 30th via Puscifer Entertainment. To celebrate this announcement, the group has released an official video for their track “Grand Canyon”, which was directed by Adam Rothlein, and it’s full of stunning, swooping shots of the canyon and surrounding nature.

YRF Entertainment has closed a deal to turn the 2008 comic book miniseries “The Nye Incidents” into an episodic drama, marking the production company’s first venture into television, reports Deadline.

Written by author Whitley Strieber in collaboration with Craig Specter, “the graphic novel centers on an obsessive but rational medical examiner who, investigating an apparent serial killer, becomes consumed with corpses that indicate the existence of extraterrestrial life. As she becomes immersed in the alien abductee community, she must uncover the truth to maintain her sanity.”

YRF’s Uday Chopra will produce and serve as executive producer along with with president of production Jonathan Reiman.

Strieber, best known for stories exploring the possible existence of extraterrestrial life, has written and co-written more than 25 novels including the bestseller “Communion,” adapted into a 1989 film starring Christopher Walken.

Chiller today announced casting and start of production for “Slasher,” an eight episode, one-hour psychological thriller series from Shaftesbury (also airing on Super Channel in Canada).

“Slasher,” Chiller’s first-ever original series, will be filmed in Sudbury, Parry Sound and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario until October 2015, with an eye towards a 2016 premiere.

Katie McGrath (Jurassic World, Dracula, Merlin) stars as Sarah Bennett, a young woman who returns to the small town where she was born, only to find herself the centerpiece in a series of horrifying copycat murders based on the widely known, grisly killings of her parents. As the murders escalate, long-buried secrets are revealed, making everyone around her a suspect…or a victim. Sarah finds herself questioning everything and everyone around her, including her husband Dylan (Brandon Jay McLaren, Graceland, The Killing), her grandmother Brenda Merritt (Wendy Crewson, Saving Hope, Revenge), family friend Cam Henry (Steve Byers, The Man in the High Castle) and the town’s police chief, Iain Vaughn (Dean McDermott, Ecstasy, CSI).

“With ‘Slasher,’ I wanted to tell a modern-day monster story – but instead of a mythological creature, the “monster” in our series is all too human,” said Aaron Martin, creator, writer and executive producer, “Slasher.” “The series is a fusion of some of my favorite thriller genres – the classic slasher film, the contemporary murder mystery and the timeless works of my favorite crime writer, Agatha Christie.”

After all this time, I was fairly resigned to think that Jeff Goldblum’s man-to-insect metamorphosis in Cronenberg’s The Fly was one of the queasiest body transformations I’d seen. However, after laying eyes upon Chad Archibald’s Bite, I’d have to say that Mr. Goldblum might have a run for his money.

Coming off of two lackluster directorial entries (The Drownsman, Ejecta), Archibald reloads and this time delivers heavily with his look at a nubile young woman whose bachelorette party/vacation proves to be a real itch… see what I did there? Anyway, the bride-to-be is Casey (Begovic), and she is whisked off to Costa Rica by some alcohol-deprived bridesmaids for a little R&R, and from the film’s opening scenes, I was immediately getting that sick feeling in my gut. Was it from some unrelenting gore splashed across the screen? No! It was from my true-to-life arch-nemesis: first-person camera usage (a la found footage). At this point, the urge to dropkick my laptop across the room overcame me, but with some patented Lamaze breathing techniques, I simmered down and let the movie play on.

Thankfully, the shaky-cam vision was merely a tool to illustrate the ignorance of one of Casey’s bridal party members – shoot as much footage of inebriated, uncoordinated chicks attempting to dance in a club, while being pawed by some douchenozzles that probably have the words “dude” and “bro” tattooed somewhere on their persons. Movin on – after Casey is roofied and raped by some sleazy club-goer, then robbed of her possessions (including her very impressive engagement rock), the group decides to go for a little dip in a remote quarry the next day, and that’s where our story gets very interesting. Never mind the fact that Casey was sexually assaulted and had her booty burgled (in more ways than one) – good friends don’t let you sulk over a traumatic crime, at least not when there’s the opportunity to wade in some murky, disease-infested water in a third-world swimmin’ hole!

While floating about in the scummy lagoon, Casey is bitten on the leg by some unexplained critter, and after the vacation has come to a close, she realizes that this isn’t any old nip on the stem – this thing is throbbing, growing in size, and leaking fluid faster than a cracked radiator… silly me, not fluid – PUS. Large, discolored quantities of pus – it trickles, it seeps, it collects on the floor – and during one romantic rendezvous in the sack with her momma’s boy of a fiancé (Gray) – it literally gushes all over her lover’s hand and ceases coital activity immediately. As if Casey’s fiancé needed any more cause to stay away from his future bride, his incredibly venomous mother (Lawrene Denkers in a fantastically evil role) seems to bristle at the sight of his forthcoming mate – this woman is plain nasty, right down to her two-ply panties.

As the film rolls along, whatever the hell is overtaking Casey’s body composition is working overtime, and every time the poor woman shifts her legs, she seems to gush a cascading, orange-tinted crystalline gathering of globules out of her… fish shack, if you will – it covers the walls of her apartment and the floor, turning her entire crash-pad into some kind of cocoon.

I’ll simply leave the rest of this ultra-hygienic antiseptic-fest to your viewing pleasure, as the utter grotesqueness must be seen to be truly enjoyed – imagine Goldblum melting faces in The Fly times 10. Archibald takes a somewhat slow route to the golden ticket in the first half of the film, but after Casey’s bite has had its chance to infest the bloodstream, that’s when we shift out of first gear and into a very slippery overdrive. Performances are routine for those attempting to nail down a typical drunk young adult or a molting insect-type lady.

In all seriousness, Bite definitely has the chops to be the Fly of the new age and simply shouldn’t be missed, especially if you’re a gorehound on the prowl. Chew on, brothers… chew on.

Writer John Ostrander and illustrator Tom Mandrake are an established duo in the comic industry, and having worked together on multiple series including The Spectre, Batman and Martian Manhunter, they are now using KickStarter to bring their latest project, Kros: Hallowed Ground, to life.

Ostrander is also the creator of Suicide Squad, which unless you’ve been living in a cave on Mars, you will know is being turned into a film out next year. How satisfying it is to see such a great creator having his work receive such widespread recognition.

Dread Central: Firstly, what is Kros: Hallowed Ground?

John Ostrander: Kros: Hallowed Ground is a 128-page graphic novel by me and Tom Mandrake. We are legendary. Folks may know us from our work on GrimJack, Firestorm, The Spectre, The Kents, and Martian Manhunter, as well as a Batman or two. The story is set during the American Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg. Two sets of battles are being fought: the battle between the armies of the North and South during the day and another at night, when vampires come to prey on the wounded. Blood calls to blood, and the vampires come like carrion predators to prey on the weak and dying. Opposing them is the vampire hunter, a damphyr, known as Kros. He has many of the vampires’ abilities and few of their weaknesses, but if he should ever taste human blood — the blood of the innocent — he himself could become what he hates. As it is, he is a man with an obsessive mission – killing vampires.

Tom Mandrake: Kros: Hallowed Ground is a horror story set during the Battle of Gettysburg, but our focus is on Major Kros and the vampires he has been drawn to this place to destroy. His past is complex—born nearly 200 years before the events of this story, Kros has been pursuing vampires for most of his life. He has seen many of the other damphyr he has known fall to the temptation of human blood. Intent on the mission that seems to forever be before him and drawn to this place by the same scent of blood as the vampires, Kros is on the verge of losing his own humanity. It is a struggle he might not win.

DC: Is crowdfunding the best way to get original independent comics off the ground?

JO: We think so. We hope so. We have a fan base, and we’re going directly to them to try to make this happen. I’ve worked for a lot of companies and I’ve enjoyed it, but for Kros we want to control the whole thing. With everything else we’ve done, it’s time Tom and I did a creator-owned story, and I’m very excited to be doing Kros!

TM: I’ve done all sorts of comics for established companies, horror, superhero, movie adaptations—everything—and I’ve had a blast drawing all of these books! But Kros is the kind of story that you don’t see very often in mainstream comics. It’s an unusual meld of history and the supernatural. Mostly, we didn’t think that the story of Kros would fit well within any established universe, so we decided to strike out on our own. Given that both John and I have worked in mainstream comics for over 30 years, it’s probably the one big thing left on both of our creative bucket lists!

DC: Can you talk about the vampires of the world that you are creating?

JO: We’re old school. Our vampires are monsters; they’re predators. They suck the life out of you. Monsters are important; monsters show us the dark side of our own natures. Trying to soften that, to make them sexier or tragic romantic heroes, for me misses the point. The better the monster, the better we see ourselves in that dark mirror. Vampires are devoid of love; they know only feeding, what they want. We live with many vampires today; they just don’t all have fangs.

TM: The vampires in Kros are very traditional in the sense that their roots go back to when vampires, ghouls, werewolves and their kind were considered to be one and the same. All of them wanted to kill mortals and steal what makes you human. They’re the alpha predator – fierce, amoral killing machines. They take you away from yourself and leave a shell that seeks sustenance for it’s own survival.

DC: Is Major Kros more of an anti-hero?

JO: Kros himself, having vampire blood in him, is also a monster. He is hyper-focused on his self-appointed mission – all vampires must die. He is isolated from others and he’s done that to himself. He is in danger of losing the human side of his nature.

TM: I’d say that Kros is an anti-hero. He’s a monster fighting monsters. The war means nothing to him. Human beings mean little to him, and yet, he finds himself fighting to save humanity from more terrible monsters than himself. I’d say, in that respect, he has some of the true hero in his nature as well.

DC: How will the Civil War setting be utilized?

JO: As I’ve said elsewhere, all wars are horror stories. Brother was killing brother in the Civil War, and that’s nightmarish to start with. The battle at Gettysburg took place in several locations around Gettysburg and lasted three days. At different times Tom and I have both visited the battleground, and you get a sense of the size and the scope of the fighting. The place is haunting and haunted, and we intend to work that eerieness into the story.

TM: There are aspects to the Battle of Gettysbrug that really hit you at your core—like the choking amount of smoke from the gunpowder, the sheer number of dead, the streams that ran red with blood. That’s real horror. We Americans learn all about the events that took place at Gettysburg in history class—the names, the locations, the troop movements, but can we ever really understand the magnitude of what happened there? I don’t think most of us do. In Kros we add a layer of supernatural horror which, for me, is a way of comprehending it all.

DC: Can you talk about the style of artwork?

JO: Tom’s artwork is creepy and spooky and eerie, but also downright beautiful. No one’s art in the comics field today looks like his. No one. It is elegant even when he’s freaking you out. It’s classic; you can go back to the masters of EC and Warren and see their artistic DNA in Tom’s work. The storytelling is concise, the characterization is profound, and the effect is incredible. Actually, just look at it, look at the sample pages, look at what he’s done in the past; and you won’t need me to tell you how wonderful it is. It’s right there on the page.

TM: I traveled to Gettysburg for inspiration late this past spring. I want to be able to capture the misty quality of the light, the rolling fields, the harsh rock formations at Devil’s Den, the eerie quality the light has at sunset. My job is to translate all this into art. I am really excited about this challenge! My daughter, Sian, is doing the colors on Kros. We talked a lot about capturing the feel of the era by toning the color toward grayed out sepia tones with hints of color like old-time hand-colored photographs.

DC: The two of you are known for creating new series and characters that go onto become iconic, such as Grimjack. How do you approach an original idea and turn it into something that is bound to be memorable?

JO: The way Tom and I approach an original idea is to explore it. You kick it around and discuss the ramifications of what you’re establishing. Tom and I take our different strengths and talents and then pool them. You ask questions – how is this different. What tropes do we use, which ones do we downplay? Ultimately, why should it matter? Why should the reader care? Each answer begets more questions and you follow those answers as well. It can be a lot of fun and that’s important; if we aren’t having fun, it’s guaranteed that the reader won’t have fun. With Kros, Tom and I are having a lot of fun.

DC: Also, you’ve collaborated on many occasions so was it a natural decision for you to work together on Kros?

JO: I really enjoy working with Tom and jump at any opportunity to do so. We were actually looking for something to do together and wanted to combine two areas in which we are fascinated – the Civil War and horror stories. As these things sometimes do, we were talking together, and Kros eventually emerged as the result.

TM: Working on Kros was definitely a natural extension of our other collaborations—which were always exciting and a lot of fun! Kros started out as a Western, but the more John and I explored the character, we determined that we wanted to place this story during an event that had historical importance. The Battle of Gettysburg came up, and we realized that what happened there would work incredibly well for the story.

DC: Can we expect to see more of Major Kros?

JO: There are other stories we can tell – assuming he survives this one.

TM: While Kros’ future isn’t guaranteed, we do have about 170 years of his past to explore. I would love to be able to tell those stories!

DC: As Suicide Squad, which you created, is headed to the big screen, is there any chance of Kros being turned into a movie?

JO: Oh man, I’d love that. Nothing planned at the moment, but we can hope. We always hope.

Terrapin Beer Company has teamed up with AMC’s “The Walking Dead” to bring beer lovers the “Blood Orange IPA”, a 6.7 ABV red IPA that’s brewed with blood orange peels. While there is no release date, supposedly the beer will be released sometime this Fall.

Terrapin Beer Company and The Walking Dead have teamed up to brew the official beer of the undead. Made with blood orange peel, and a horrific amount of hops, this bloodthirsty red IPA will have you prepared for the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse. [Source]

Much of “The Walking Dead” is filmed in Georgia, which is the home state of Terrapin.

Well, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you clear your calendars for a huge release list this week, my friends. We’ve only got 7 releases to discuss, so I will make it quick. First, Eaten Alive had an initial release date scheduled for today but it has been pushed back to next week. Check back on the 4th of August for more info on that title.

As mentioned last week, the Tales Of The Supernatural Extended Uncut DVD is coming out this week, but not on the 28th. It will be released on the 31st, just as the Blu-ray was released later last week. So, be on the lookout for that on Friday.

The majority of our releases this week are pretty much classics, starting with some 1960’s German titles down in the Collections section. This week also sees the DVD release of Tango Of Perversion as well as the Blu-ray and DVD releases for 1972’s The Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein.

There is also a documentary, in the way of Lost Soul, which focuses on the extremely problematic production of 1996’s Island Of Doctor Moreau. With interviews from members of the cast, you can gain a new perspective on that adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells story.

That’s basically this entire week in a nutshell. Check back with us next week, as we’re looking at around 14 releases for the 4th. As always, pleasant viewing folks.

MOVIES

Dawn of the Crescent Moon (2014)

Starring:

Barry Corbin, Kurt Cole

Synopsis:

Friday Lunch Productions presents a supernatural thriller about five college students who travel to a small Texas town with hope of uncovering the truth behind an old Comanche legend. It’s not long before the students begin to realize that the legend is much more than local folklore when they come face-to-face with their own pasts and the legend itself.

After the death of Victor Frankenstein (Dennis Price), two figures vie for control of his metallic-skinned monster (Fernando Bilbao) and the radical technology that created him: the scientist’s daughter, Vera (Beatriz Savón), and the immortal wizard Cagliostro (Howard Vernon), who is assisted by a blind bird-woman with an unquenchable thirst for blood (Anne Libert).

With The Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein, controversial filmmaker Jess Franco merged his fondness for old-school horror with his unique and perverse tastes in sex and violence, partly inspired by the garish adult European comics of the early 1970s.

Purchase:

Ghost Town (1988)

Starring:

Bruce Glover, Catherine Hickland

Synopsis:

This interesting fusion of the horror and Western genres involves a modern-day sheriff (Franc Luz) whose search for a missing heiress leads him into the title locale, a frontier-age Arizona township whose residents are cursed with immortality. He eventually discovers that the abductee (Catherine Hickland) has been spirited off to the lair of an evil black-clad gunslinger (Jimmie F. Skaggs), who sees her as the reincarnation of the dance-hall girl he murdered a hundred years before.

Purchase:

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2015)

In 1995, visionary writer/director Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil) got the green light for his dream project: An epic adaptation of H.G. Wells The Island Of Doctor Moreau starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. But only days into production, an unprecedented storm of natural disasters, monstrous egos and disturbing imagery along with chaos, insanity and witchcraft would trigger perhaps the most infamous behind-the-scenes catastrophe in modern movie history. Now director/producer David Gregory (The Theatre Bizarre, Plague Town) reveals the untold story behind one of the all-time greatest cinematic train wrecks (Variety) in this wonderfully weird and gripping (Entertainment Weekly) documentary featuring never-before-seen footage, startling new interviews with actors Fairuza Balk and Rob Morrow, studio executives, crew members and for the first time ever the notoriously reclusive Stanley himself, plus nearly 2 hours of exclusive Bonus Features.

The film consists of six supernatural tales (Disturbance, The Hike, Bryan’s Daughter, The Book, Naked and Paralysis) linked together by a demon who is intent on collecting human souls.

Purchases:

Tango Of Perversion (1973)

Starring:

Larry Daniels, Erika Raffael, Dorothy Moore, Vagelis Voulgaridis

Synopsis:

The Tango club is the favorite hangout for a group of swingers who live for nothing but pleasure. Rosita, a beautiful lesbian, seduces Joanna by giving her dope. Stathis, Joanna’s sleazy boyfriend catches the two women in bed together and takes his brutal revenge on them, ending in Rosita’s death. All this happens in the house of Joachim, a rich playboy who gets his kicks by secretly filming Stathis having sex with girls from the Tango club. Joachim believes he is impotent, until he makes love to Rosita’s dead body. After that, things start to get weird… Sex, drugs, necrophilia, voyeurism and a dose of Greek psychedelia, this film has it all.

One of the legendary exploitation films of the early 1970s now makes its US home video debut in a brand new print, complete and uncut.

We present a double-dose of German Krimi terror and mystery as Phantom Killers stalk the night! You’ll shudder in fear as Christa Linder (Miss Austria of 1962) is terrorized by a cult of masked villains in Strangler Of The Tower (1966), a chiller which follows the fate of those who desecrate a pagan temple; the price they must pay…is death! Then you’ll run for the hills as the spirit of Jack the Ripper seems to return to haunt the streets in Monster Of London City (1964, based on an Edgar Wallace story! Stars Marianne Koch, Hans Nielsen, Hansjörg Felmy. Mastered from a Progressive Scan HD Film Transfer.

Last week, we introduced you to YouTube makeup artist Madeyewlook, who did a fantastic tutorial on how to use basic makeup to turn yourself into Freddy Krueger. Well, we’re back with yet another incredible artist!

I’d like to introduce you to Corie Willet. Below is a gallery of some of the transformations she’s undergone and they’re absolutely incredible! Some of them look like something out of a White Zombie video, boasting strong neon colors that highlight the macabre nature of the design, bones and muscle exposed as though the skin has rotten and decomposed away.

The original Night of the Living Dead is without a doubt one of the most influential horror films of all time. All self-respecting horror fans have watched it multiple times and will still be awed by its sheer awesomeness. Roger Conners was such a huge fan that he is currently working on his own version, titled Night of the Living Dead: Rebirth. Check out our interview with him below and contribute to the film here.

Dread Central: So, why did you choose to remake Night of the Living Dead? Were you big fans of the original?

Roger Conners: To say I am a fan is a total understatement. Not only was Night of the Living Dead my first exposure to the horror genre, but it also remains my single favorite film to this day. It completely defined my taste in cinema and sparked my interest in being involved in the industry at a very young age.

DC: Is this a remake of the original or a new story?

RC: It’s a remake, but the storyline and the characters involved have been updated to feel a bit more contemporary. Fans are certainly going to see many of the classic moments recreated, but there will also be a multitude of new plot twists that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

DC: And what exactly is the “Rebirth” in the title referring to?

RC: I went with “Rebirth” for multiple reasons, but mainly it’s because it truly is a totally new take on the classic storyline. We’re not just dealing with a remake in the sense of retelling the story; we are completely updating it to make the whole thing feel relevant for today’s viewers. The original film, at its core, is so much more than an average zombie movie. From a filmmaker’s perspective, Romero’s masterpiece also succeeds as a highly advanced social commentary. The movie dealt with an array of issues that were prevalent at the time of its release, and we definitely wanted to tap into that aspect of the story. My goal with “Rebirth” is to recreate that element of the original, but for a modern audience.

DC: What stage of production are you currently in?

RC: We’re about 90% of the way through principal photography. We have a few scenes left, but they’re the ones that are really going to make or break the film. They are the ones that the fans really anticipate and they expect you to get it right or else they will hate you forever. I definitely don’t want to be known as the dude who ruined a classic. That’s a lot of pressure.

DC: Alvin Hudson plays Reverend Harold Cooper; is he the villain of the film?

RC: He definitely is! He still possesses many of the traits that the original Harry displayed in the original, but his religious extremist mentality definitely takes his personality to a far darker and more hateful place. He holds a lot of hostility in his heart, and he refuses to budge on his beliefs, which are cause for much tension with the other survivors.

DC: Can you talk about the rest of the cast?

RC: I’d love to. Many of the original characters return in some form. Ben is portrayed a bit rougher around the edges, much more along the lines of the original script before Duane Jones stepped in and polished him up. I don’t think anyone could truly recreate that performance, so I opted to take a different route and pay homage to the source material. So Ben is a truck driver, as he was originally written.

Another character who is very much a hat-tip to the original script is George, the caretaker of the cemetery who ends up joining the other survivors inside the farmhouse. I was hesitant to add a new character, but there needed to be some fresh elements to my story so I ended up getting a little creative. Anyone who has ever read the original script knows that the character of Judy was not part of it. She was written specifically for Judith Ridley, and the character of her boyfriend, Tom, was originally the elderly cemetery groundskeeper. So I figured, “What the hell,” and wrote that character into the story. And, in tribute, I named him George.

The only character who has been drastically restructured is Barbra. She is no longer part of the storyline. I know people are going to be upset with this, but I need to just get it out there. However, there is a new character that is heavily based off of her, down to the classic trenchcoat. His name is Adam, and he is a 23-year-old gay male. Now stick him in that house with Reverend Cooper, who has been completely based off of Fred Phelps, the former head of the Westboro Baptist Church. See where I’m going with this? Remember that “social commentary” aspect I was attempting to recreate? Well, there you. That is just one example of where we are going with this film.

DC: The original is in the public domain and has been remade many times; what makes yours stand out?

RC: I feel there are multiple aspects about “Rebirth” that set it apart from the rest of the remakes. First, before I go on any further about my own film, let me make it clear that I am oftentimes a supporter of remakes in general. If it’s handled properly, the movie can certainly become a classic by its own right! I mean, look at John Carpenters The Thing. That movie is a masterpiece on so many levels. Now, if the movie is handled poorly, what does that really do to diminish the quality of the original piece? If anything, does it not just bring a newfound attention and appreciation to the source material? I don’t know; clearly this is all just a matter of opinion, but that is my stance on the matter.

Now as for why I feel “Rebirth” deserves the attention and support of fans of the original film? To tell the truth, because I am one of you. I’m as diehard as they come. This movie defined my childhood and spawned my passion for cinema in general. I am doing everything in my power to respect the source material, breathe new life into the storyline, and overall make sure that I create the best film I possibly can. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This is my passion project. It was only a matter of time until I had my turn with it!

DC: Why do you think that zombies have achieved such huge cultural status recently?

RC: I feel everyone has their own reason for loving the zombie genre, but I think that there are a few universal reasons for why they’re so scary and continue to work in such a heavily saturated market. The idea of a loved one returning without absolutely any sense of reason or motivation aside from their desire to kill you is terrifying. There is no hesitation. No debating the matter. There is a complete loss of identity there, and that is horrifying! And let’s be real, what do we find more interesting and, in turn, terrifying than death? It’s scary as hell because none of us completely know what is in store! So then this whole zombie concept comes along, and it provides an answer to that. And that answer is scary as hell! The recently dead get up and kill! Those they kill get up and kill! Death equals more death! What is scarier than that?

Sam, an imaginative but vulnerable twelve-year-old boy, heads off to camp with his Cub Scouts troupe. Mistrusted by the pack leader Peter and isolated by the other Scouts, he becomes convinced a terrible fate awaits them in the forest after he discovers a mysterious lair.

When Sam tries to warn the group, they ignore him, and his darkest fears soon come to life as one by one his fellow Scouts are hunted down, leaving him to fight back to survive.

Cub (Altitude Film Distribution) is unleashed in UK cinemas and On Demand 31st July. Own it on DVD from 3rd August.

To support the release, we have a copy on DVD to give away!

To be in with a chance of winning, simply send an email to contests@dreadcentral.com with the subject line “Cub UK DVD” and including YOUR FULL NAME AND POSTAL ADDRESS in the body of the mail.

We’ll take care of the rest.

Please note that this competition is open ONLY to UK residents and will end at 12:01 AM PT on 3 August 2015.

Life in Tinseltown is hard for struggling actress Novella McClure (Maddock). Feeling washed up before her career has even taken off, the ailing thespian struggles to land roles, avoid her friendly but pushed-to-the-limit landlord, and stay out of the clutches of time-wasting porno producers.

Her only solace in a world of daily stress is best friend Candice (Francis), a party girl who regularly takes Novella out on the town for a night of free drinks courtesy of any hopeful guys who fall under their flirtatious spell – but this isn’t enough to settle the daily stresses of Novella’s existence, and with her dreams crumbling around her, she develops a rather unusual coping mechanism…

She begins to eat herself.

Starting off with a rather over-enthusiastic nibbling on her thumb, Novella’s panic attacks soon see her chomping strips of flesh from her hand and completely mangling her own foot in one particularly gruesome bout of the munchies. Explaining her wounds as simple accidents in order to hide her activities from concerned parties doesn’t help the situation, but when a chance run-in at a club with the charming Dr. Simon offers the promise of a genuine romantic relationship, things seem to look up for Novella. Yet, Eat writer/director Jimmy Weber isn’t about to let his starlet off so easily.

Comparisons are easily drawn between Eat and the similarly-themed Starry Eyes, but Weber is less concerned with railing against the soulless nature of the industry than he is with simply watching the gruesome downfall of his leading lady. It keeps Eat a more focused piece, ultimately sporting less lofty ideals and ambitions than its current cousin – and that’s not a bad thing. Traversing the world of bitchy competition at auditions and promising referrals that turn out to be a complete waste of time and energy, it quickly becomes apparent that Novella is fighting a losing battle – ready to break, but determined to push herself to the last in order to achieve her dream.

Bringing the ill-fated protagonist to life is actress Meggie Maddock, whose own skills swing between the impressive and the not-particularly-convincing. Early dialogue exchanges feel amateurish (and especially so given the confidence with which the film begins – sporting a stylish and promising title sequence), but as the film progresses, Maddock’s performance becomes more often solid than waning. Novella’s character, herself, is a sympathetic figure – and remains so – even if her actions are so extreme that they aren’t particularly identifiable. If you ever find compulsive auto-cannibalism identifiable in some way, you’re probably going to want to get in touch with a therapist of your own – so that’s not much of a bugbear, there.

Weber’s direction throughout Eat is pro-grade, with a number of well conceived shots and sequences and a bright, colourful presentation that belies the grimness of the proceedings. Of particular note is the editing, which, alongside the soundtrack and some stomach-churning prosthetic work, makes for seriously wince-inducing moments when Novella’s anxiety kicks in and she decides to take a bite (or ten) out of herself. The shocks are highly effective, very well delivered and quite often grueling – this is one film you don’t want to watch if you’re already feeling nauseous!

Where Eat falls down lies solely on the script’s character elements. While it gets by just fine watching Novella go through the motions of her chosen career, there isn’t much else going on. A neat twist and some compelling unanswered questions in the finish notwithstanding, attempts to add deeper layers to the relationship between Novella and Candice fall woefully flat.

Still, the film moves along at a punchy pace that leaves these issues rarely able to come to the fore. A thoughtful character study this is not – but Eat is very much a strong contender for your time if you can stomach the grue. Despite a few problems, just like Novella herself, it’s hard to dislike.

Monster Pictures bring Eat to UK DVD sporting an audio commentary with James Weber and producer Annie Baker. It’s a decent listen, with plenty of anecdotes regarding the shoot. Weber actually makes reference during the commentary to a “making of” supplement, which unfortunately doesn’t appear on this disc.

Even though we all knew that this was going to be the case, it’s still really great to get confirmation that the ’73 Delta 88 that has been featured in nearly every single Sam Raimi film is back for “Ash vs Evil Dead“, as confirmed by Bruce Campbell himself!

Campbell responded to a fan who was asking about “The Classic” and stated that the original vehicle was shipped to New Zealand for the filming of the 10-episode show.

“Ash vs Evil Dead“‘s synopsis reads:

Campbell will be reprising his role as Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip.

“Ash vs Evil Dead” (see who’s directing here) is the long-awaited follow-up to the classic horror film franchise The Evil Dead and is set to premiere on STARZ in fall 2015.

Reports are coming in with the very sad news that N. Brock Winkless IV passed away on July 18th at the age of 56. According to MakeUpMag, Winkless, “…suffered from a debilitating neurological condition that caused him rising levels of discomfort and lack of muscular control for more than 15 years. He died as the result of complications due to that condition.”

Winkless was an incredibly important figure for us horror fans. His skill at being a puppeteer saw him work with Stan Winston, Rick Baker, and AnimatedFX, Inc. His adeptness at making puppets’ lips look like they were actually saying their lines can be seen in the Child’s Play films as well as Tales From The Crypt‘s Crypt Keeper. He was also the puppeteer for the Xenomorph in Alien3 and was part of The X Files and Congo.

We send our deepest condolences to friends and family. May he rest in peace now.

Don’t fret, the sickening wet sounds punctuated by the occasional blood-curdling scream that you might be hearing right now aren’t coming from inside your head. You’re not experiencing a psychotic episode, that’s just the sound Mortal Kombat X makes when it’s dominating all the games by ripping their spines out through their recently vacated eye sockets.

Thanks to sales figures tallied by The NPD Group, we now know what the ten best-selling video games are for the first six months of 2015, and some of them may surprise you.

I did not expect to see the brand new Batman: Arkham Knight on there, especially with the recent delay of the very broken PC version. As impressive as that is — particularly for WB Games, which published MKX, Arkham Knight and Dying Light — it’s overshadowed by the success of the latest installment in the now 25 year-old Mortal Kombat franchise.

Mortal Kombat Xis a great game, so that victory is well-deserved. It’s a promising sign for insatiable gorehounds, too, who should be delighted to see a game that celebrates the human, and human-ish, body in such creative ways dominate so completely.

Usually, that place is reserved for White Guys With Guns, Sports 2015, or Grand Theft Auto.

I’m glad Dying Light took a break from finding satisfying ways to free clumsy ghouls of their stupid rotten limbs to grab that #7 spot. That’s fantastic news for a brand new, albeit a very familiar, IP. I suspect we’ll be hearing about a sequel in the not-too-distant future.

We won’t know what it is until Capcom is ready to share it with us, but the trademark the company filed with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) earlier this month is definitely related to the Resident Evil franchise. Umm, surprise?

The confirmation came from DualShockers, which spotted another trademark, this time with the Japanese Patent and Trademark Office. It doesn’t have much else to say about the unannounced project, other than what we should call it, and that’s Biohazard: Umbrella Corps — or Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps, as it’s known here in the States.

Fans have been cautiously waiting to see if Resident Evil 7 will make good on Capcom’s promise to return the series to its roots in survival horror. It has the undesirable position of having to follow up arguably the worst entry in the main series.

After years of quality issues, Resident Evil has made a gradual, if decidedly strategic, comeback with the well-liked Revelations spin-offs, as well as the stunning HD remaster of the GameCube remake that first released in 2002. The only other game we know about right now is the Resident Evil 0 remaster that’s slated to release on all major platforms in early 2016.

Originally scheduled for release on August 21st, and then rescheduled for August 28th, word has just come that Sinister 2 is going back to its original release date of August 21st. That Bughuul sure is tricky!

Ciaran Foy (Citadel) directed Sinister 2. Scott Derrickson, director of Sinister, penned the screenplay with C. Robert Cargill, with whom he also wrote the original film.

Synopsis:In the aftermath of the shocking events in Sinister, a protective mother (Shannyn Sossamon of “Wayward Pines”) and her 9-year-old twin sons (real-life twins Robert and Dartanian Sloan) find themselves in a rural house marked for death as the evil spirit of Buhguul continues to spread with frightening intensity. James Ransone co-stars.